2024 :: week 22

May 26

At dinner we celebrated both of the upcoming birthdays--mine (5/27) and Matt's (5/31). Earlier that day at church I taught a combined Primary lesson while the Sunday School president did a teacher training for the primary teachers. The theme of the lesson was "hearts knit in unity," from Alma 18:21, and it went really well.

May 27

Monday was my birthday, and it was a good day. The kids didn't have school and TJ didn't have work so it felt like a "bonus" Saturday. In the morning TJ worked on assembling our new dresser from Ikea. The pool was open and I got to see many friends. Charlotte asked the cashier to wish me a happy birthday over the intercom which was fun, albeit embarrassing. That evening we went to Sar Ko Park for a ward party that wasn't well attended. The ward didn't provide food, just rented the shelter, and not many people came. It was still fun to see people. My parents stopped by to wish me a happy birthday in person, and my dad made my favorite peanut butter rice krispy bars that my mom has made for me throughout the years. I felt very loved.

May 28

Tuesday was Miles' last day of preschool. Here he is with his teacher, Miss Emily, and favorite classroom aide Miss Amanda. Miles has grown so much this year, and has really come out of  his shell. The fact that he let me take this picture is evidence! Last year not only did he refuse to take a picture with his teacher, he refused to take a picture at the school and didn't want to stay for the field day activities. This year we took this picture AND stayed and participated in most of the field day activities. 

May 29

Wednesday was the last (half) day of school. I somehow missed getting a picture of Will before he left to catch his bus. Miles, Anthony and I walked up to the school and lined the sidewalk to clap out Lauren and the other 6th graders. There are always a lot of emotions involved with "endings," but I think Lauren is ready to move on to middle school. She had great teachers and made many good friends at OPC. Immediately after school a bunch of kids headed straight to the pool. Unfortunately, Lauren could not as she had to head to the church to depart for Girl's Camp 2024. The stake was hopeful that SMSD would move their last day to before Memorial Day, but they did not and the SMSD girls had to leave basically as soon as school got out for camp. It was the only week the campground had available, so the stake leaders snagged it and hoped for the best.

May 30

Elliott slid into home during his baseball game Wednesday. He has really grown as a played this year and has made some great plays!

May 31

Will had band camp Thursday and Friday, and with Lauren at Girl's Camp, I decide to do something fun with Miles and Elliott to celebrate the start of summer. We went to Crown Center and explored the Daniel Tiger exhibit. It was pretty fun! Though Elliott was a little older than the target audience. We are a Daniel Tiger family and so we enjoyed the details. After enjoying the exhibit we ate a yummy lunch at Spin Pizza.

June 1

Lauren arrived home from Girl's Camp Saturday evening. She had a good time, though probably not quite as much fun as she had last year. This year the stake wanted to focus on ward unity and had the girls divided up by ward. (I was disappointed with this approach). They did have "sister wards," and Oak Park was sister wards with Mill Creek.